Casseiopeia
by Laurie Makensri
Summary: ROADTRIP!!!!!!!! I seriously don't like summeries, just R/R. Please?
1. The Start of the Madness

This is a story of knights and ladies, kings and queens, pages and squires, Immortals and gods.  
  
In short, it's about Tortall.  
  
Anyway, one day I was walking home from school, muttering about how annoying Jonathan Bothell was. He had spent all of eighth hour calling me an idiot and making fun of the Tamora Pierce books. That day just happened to be the Equinox, as in, the first day of spring. I was bored and didn't have to be at Jess's for an hour so I walked to the park. I went to my special spot, a little forgotten grove surrounded by pine trees with a bench. No one ever went there, except for me. I sat down on the bench, thinking. I thought a lot. In this case, I was thinking about my dad. He had died when I was ten, and my mom had always been sort of out of it since then. He had loved astronomy, and taught me everything he knew about it, then got books about it so we could both learn more. I remembered him taking me outside on a December night when it was below zero to watch a meteor shower. He loved experiments, too. Once for my birthday he had given me a Gallileo thermometer kit, meant for people 18 and older, which we had spent three months building. I still had it on my dresser.   
  
Anyway, I sat down on the bench and thought. I thought a lot. It was something I did. Like some people get mad, and some people cry. I think.  
  
Anyway, I saw a patch of trees that, well, didn't look right. There's no other way to describe it. I walked over to the spot and touched it. Not smart. I felt like I was being pulled into another world. Then I was being pulled into another world. I felt something in my arm crack as I landed. It was dark. I was in a forest. I realized that in a second or two. Then I saw a farmiliar w of stars directly above my head, as everything went black.  
  
______________________  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I dunno, I don't reconize it."  
  
"Maybe it's from the Divine Realms."  
  
"And got knocked out? Owen, I don't think so."  
  
"Oh. will you all STOP! That's a person and you know it, Queenscove. And whoever it is, she's hurt."  
  
"Kel's right. Quit goggling and get out of the way."  
  
"WOULD ALL OF YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT ME AS IF I'M NOT HERE!" I yelled, sitting up and opening my eyes.  
  
"Wow! It talks!"  
"I am SO not an it!" I yelled. There were boys all around me, and one girl. Most of them looked about my age, a few older, one or two younger. "And quit laughing and tell me where the freakin' hell I am!" I yelled at the oldest. He looked like he was twenty or so. He stopped laughing immediately. Back home, when I spoke like that, NO ONE argued.  
  
"I think we should be asking the questions," the one I that had thought I came from the Divine Realms said.  
  
"Listen, buddy, if you want a fight then I'll kick your ass!" I was really, really pissed at these guys.  
  
"Try me. It'll be jolly."  
  
"Oh yeah, I think I will!"  
  
"Owen, whoever you are, quit it!" the girl yelled, holding me down. "Your arm's broken, you're in no condition to fight, and if anyone kicked ass--" she looked puzzled at the words-- "then it'd probably be Owen."  
  
"Oh really?" I saw a motion at the very edge of my view and heard a rustling sound. I caught the punch before it even got close, flipped the person who threw it over my shoulder, and landed on top of them, making a motion with my hand that would've crushed their wind-pipe. I stopped half an inch from their throat. My hand was trembling at the sudden stop, and I just now noticed the pain in my forearm. "That was most likely the stupidest thing you've ever done in your life," I muttered to the boy--Owen, I remembered-- and helped him up.   
  
"You did that with a broken arm?" he asked excitedly. "That was jolly, can you teach me?"  
  
I stuck out my left hand to the girl. "Name's Laurie Makensri. Now where am I?"  
  
"Tortall." she answered, like I was an idiot not to know.  
  
"WHAT?!?!?!?" I shrieked.   
  
  



	2. Tortall

  
"WHAT?!?!?!?" I shrieked. One of the boys covered his ears.   
  
"What do you mean, what?" the oldest, the one that sounded really educated asked.  
  
"You mean to tell me," I said in between deep breaths, "That I'm in Tortall?"  
  
"Why do you find that so hard to believe?" the girl asked. I really have to learn their names, I thought.  
  
"Okay, you guys, what did Jess and Juls pay ya to play this prank? Tell them that it didn't work, that they missed April Fool's Day, and that they should do the world a favor and kill themselves."  
  
"Huh?" one of the other boys--who just happened to be able to put Michael Haeliey, THE hottest boy at our school, to shame-- asked.  
  
"Either you guys belong on Broadway or you're telling the truth. I'm going for the former." Dad had always called me the two s's and the c--stubborn, set-in-my-ways, and cynical. "Guess you were right, Dad," I muttered. No one heard me.  
  
"What's that mean?" the girl asked.  
  
"You actually expect me to belive that I'm in Tortall, home of Alanna the Lioness, Daine the Wildmage, Numair Samalin, King Jonathan the III, a total jackass for reasons that will later be explained, Queen Thayet, Baron George of Pirate's Swoop, Keladry of Mindelan, Neal of Queenscove, Owen of Jesslaw, Merric of Hollyrose, Faleron of King's Reach, Seaver of Tasride, Prosper of Tameron, Cleon of Kennan, Raoul of Goldenlake, Gareth of Naxen, ect., ect.,?"  
  
"How does she know all our names?" the oldest one asked.  
  
"Okay, this is a total guess on the name, but Neal, honey, NOT NOW!!!! I'm dealing with my mid-teenage-life crisis here!"  
  
"Well, that would explain why you're so cynical."  
  
"Dear, being cynical is one of my charms."   
  
"You don't have many," a big redhead muttered.  
  
"I HEARD THAT!" I shouted. "Just so that you know, I am totally pissed at the entire world right about now, so it might be a good idea not to get me mad!"  
  
"Let's just get you to the palace," the really handsome one said.  
  
"Fine. Can you guys introduce yourselves or something?" It turned out I was right about Neal, and the "really handsome one" was Faleron of King's Reach.   
  
"So," Kel said after they were done. "How do you know our names?"  
  
"Ummm.....I'm psysic?" I said quickly. Neal raised his eyebrow.   
  
"Damn," I muttered. "I never was good at lying." Get ready for this... In our world, you don't exist. You're a fragment of someone's immagination. There are books about you guys."  
  
"All of us?" Prince Roald asked.  
  
"No, just the Lioness, the Wildmage, and Kelly-Girl here."  
  
"Why about them and not us?" Owen complained.   
  
"Cuz' you're not special," I told him bluntly.  
  
"That was meeeeaaaaan!!" he said in a teary voice.  
  
"Whach ya gonna do, run to Mommy, Sir Crybaby?" Owen and I didn't get off to a good start, what with him attacking me and all.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"WOULD ALL OF YOU STOP IT ALREADY!!!!!" Kel yelled.  
  
"Kel, I didn't know you could scream that loud," Neal commented.  
  
Kel looked at him, took several deep breaths, and then said, in a very quiet, icy voice, "Neal, if you don't help me get Laurie and Owen to the palace, without killing each other, then I'll tell Lord Wyldon and Lady Alanna what I saw you doing with Lady Jeminia in the hall last night."  
  
Neal went pale while a lot of squires laughed, and a few whistled. "How'd you find out about that?"   
  
"That's not the topic at hand. Laurie, do you have any of the books with you?"  
  
"I would if my bag was here..." I yelled happily when I saw my backpack, loaded with sleepover stuff, by a tree. "Here," I handed Kel Page. "This one's about you."  
  
She turned to page one and started showing it to the boys.   
  
"Uhhh, Kel, I wouldn't do that if I were you."  
  
"Why not?" she asked.  
  
"There might be some stuff you might not want them to see."  
  
"As in?"  
  
"The very end of chapter three."  
  
She turned to the end of chapter three, being careful the boys didn't read over her shoulder, gasped, and shut the book. "Is there a lot of...things....I might not want people to know?"  
  
"Chapter four, near the middle somewhere, chapter five, seventh page..."  
  
"I get the idea!" then she turned to the boys. "NO ONE reads this, got it? NO ONE." She turned back to me. "Can you ride?" she asked.  
  
"Course I can. Which horse am I on?"  
  
"Better go with Faleron."  
  
"And that would be..?"  
  
Faleron pointed to a beautiful chesnut mare tied to a tree. I went up to the horse and paused in front of her. "Okay, Makensri," I muttered. "Left foot, left side, first." I got up and clumsily mounted the horse. Someone behind me was laughing. "Quit it!" I told them. "It's been like ten years since I've done this!" They stopped laughing.  
  
Faleron got up behind me. "Don't mind Cleon," he told me. "He laughs at everyone."  
  
"Thanks," I said."  
  
We got to the palace, a twenty minute ride, without me and Owen ripping each other to pieces. Kel and I went to her room, while some of the boys went to talk with Lord Wyldon.  
  
"So," I asked. "Who's you knight-master?"  
  
"Sir Raoul,"  
  
"HAHA!!!! Yes Juls, there's ten bucks for me! We made a bet," I explained.  
  
"Who's Juls?"  
  
"Jessica Markson and Julia Pirytea were best friends back home. I was going to a sleepover with them when I got zapped here."  
  
"Ah," she commented.  
  
After we got to her room, a woman with dark brown hair came into the room. "My lady, did you have fun on your ride?"  
  
Kel sighed. "Yes, I had fun, Lalasa, and please stop calling me, 'my lady.'"   
  
"All right, my lady. Who's this?"   
  
I shook her hand. "Laurie Makensri, pleased ta meet cha."  
  
"Lalasa Isran."  
  
"Cool."  
  
So Kel and Lalasa sat and talked on the bed, and I sat down next to them and looked through my bag. I had my sheepies (my pjs), a t shirt, jeans, underwear, and socks for the next day, a blue mini-dress and a silver blouse and short black skirt we were going to wear just to be weird, my tiny make-up kit (I hated the stuff), and books, CDs, tons of batteries, a deck of cards, the candy we were going to play poker for, and, for some reason, the necklace Grandma had given me before Dad died. Then Owen came into the room. He glared at me, then said to Kel, "She's supposed to meet the king now."  
  
"The KING?" Kel and I said at once, Kel anxoius, me excited.  
  
"Yes, the KING."  
  
"Jonathan III?" I asked.  
  
"Yes, him."  
  
"Oh, good," I said, rubbing my hands together and grinning michieviously. "There are a few things I want to say to him...."  
  
  
Authors Note: Told ya it'd be longer! Thank you to all of those who reviewed. And to Elli, maybe I will kill Owen. Think I should have him eaten by spidrens? And Mel!, I'll try to make it different. I already wrote the ending to the story and it doens't seem similar. Anyway, when I posted the last one, I forgot the annoying disclaimer. So here it is! And please review!  
  
Annoying Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Laurie, and the plot. I'm not going to put up any more of these because they annoy me. Bye!   
  
  



	3. Insulting People

When we got to the room where King Jonathan, Lord Wyldon, and a bunch of other people were waiting, Kel and Owen immediatly bowed, murmering, "Your Majesty."  
  
"Hiya, King of Prigs!" I said cheerily. Jonathan raised his eybrows, and Lord Wyldon started to say, "Now see here, young lady, a citizen should not talk to the king of their country that way..."  
  
"Oh, shaddup, MY LORD, cuz, a) I'm not a citizen of this country, and b) I have a few things I want to say to Evil-Kingy-Dude here, and NOTHING is going to stop me from saying them! First of all, you're a GOD-FORSAKEN KNIGHT! DON"T YOU GET THE CODE OF CHILVILRY, OR ARE YOU TOO THICK-HEADED TO GET THAT TOO?!?!"  
Kel tried to drag me out of the room, but I wrestled out of her grasp and said, "Sorry, Kel, but this is for your own good." Kel buried her face in her hands. "And treating Alanna like she's a little, a little, a little PUPPET or something you can move around, that is THE dumbest thing I've EVER heard! She's her own person, you know! How DARE you treat her like that, forbiding her to see Kel! You know the Lioness's temper, heck, it's famous! How COULDN"T you know she'd act like that?!?"  
  
An absolutely beautiful woman in the corner was trying not to laugh, King Jon looked very red, a very er...LARGE man with black hair and eyes was, like who I guessed was Thayet, was turning a laugh into a cough, and Lord Wyldon looked shocked.  
  
"And as for YOU, My Lord," I said mockingly, "You are the craziest, most insane, raving LUTATIC that I have EVER met. I mean, come on, saying that women can't fight in front of Alanna the Lioness? How mad can you get?"  
  
"Young lady--" he began, but I interrupted him.  
  
"Don't call me a lady. I hate skirts, despise makeup, and suck at flirting."  
  
"Young WOMAN, most females are not talented in the fighting arts. Squire Keladry and Sir Alanna are most definately an exception."  
\  
There were shouts from around the room, a few squeals, one or two "Right on!"s , and several "WHY I OTTA...."s.  
  
'Think girls can't fight, MY LIEGE?" I asked calmly while examining my fingernails. "Care to take me up on that?"  
  
"Laurie..." Kel started.  
  
"Kel, honey, don't get into this!"  
  
"Your arm..."  
  
"What? Oh, yeah." I looked at the king. "Would someone take me to a healer? I broke my arm."  
"Fine. You have permission to leave." The king said, still red with the embarassment of being told off by a teenager.   
  
"We will fight tomorrow then, girl," Lord Wyldon said.   
  
I bowed mockingly. "As you wish, your High and Mightyness."  
  
Kel and a few other squires ushered me out before the training master could yell at me again.  
  
"Bravo!" Neal said, still holding my shoulder. "I don't think I"VE ever argued better."  
  
"Thank you," I said as a few other boys congraduated me.  
  
"I've never laughed so hard in my life!" Faleron said quietly.  
  
"That's quite enough," Kel said bossily. I think she was still mad at Wyldon for the "women can't fight" remark. "Now let's get Laurie to a healer."  
  
  
Author's Note: Sorry, short, I know. But to Emily--sorry, Emma, the girl just got stuck in a nonexistant world. YES I THINK I"D BE CUSSIN' TOO!! SHEESH! He he, sorry. Oh, and I didn't write that first chapter. The evil part of my head wrote it. Her name's Evil-roger-ralon-ozorne-joren-cleon-malfoy-eidon-arwan-charlestheseventh. If anyone wants an explaination then ask for it in the reviews. Anyway, thank you to all the people that reviewed. They were all very nice. And if anyone's wondering, this thing WILL get a plot. *looks confused as everyone gasps*. Anyways, I just want to tell you guys something that seems to have confused a few people. Kira's right. Being Gary's squire is what Kel fears. She put her hand on the Chamber door, remember. Oh well. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year (where's that from?????????)  
  
  
  
  



	4. Fighting the Male Idiot

  
The next day, I woke up and groaned. My arm still ached a little. Plus, I had just realized that healing wiped me out. I fell asleep before we got to Kel's room, where they had to put me because they didn't have time to find anywhere else. And around midnight I found out about a slightly negative effect with the healing: I pretty much got the stomach flu.  
  
I looked around. Kel was practicing her glaive excersises. I decided not to interrupt. When she finished, I was amazed. I thought that using the glaive would be sort of like the long bamboo rods some of my tae kwon do instructors used for another sport. Wrong. Anyway, when Kel finished, she noticed I was up.   
  
"Good morning," she said, in an annoyingly cheery voice.  
  
"Kel, no morning is a good morning," I told her sourly.  
  
"Why? Are you one of those people that hate mornings?"  
  
"You betcha."  
  
"Why are there so may people that don't like mornings?" she asked no one in particular.  
  
"Kel, honey, we're teenagers. It's in our nature to party all night and then sleep till noon."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Ask a mad scientist, cuz I don't know. Uhggg!" I said as Neal, Faleron, Owen, and Merric came in. "Aren't any of you NORMAL teeenagers?!?"  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Owen asked, glaring at me.  
  
"I don't want to deal with Sir Crybaby at the crack o' dawn!" I said, throwing my pillow over my head.  
  
"Sir Crybaby. I like that one," Cleon said as he walked in.   
  
"Would you all just LEAVE ME ALONE?!?! I've got to fight your training master in what, five hours, I was up half the night barfing, and my arm still hurts! Go away!" I screamed.   
  
"Laurie's not exactly a morning person," Kel explained.  
  
"Neither are we," Neal said. "Kel, it's ten o' clock."  
  
"WHAT?!?!" They all looked at me as I shot out of bed. "I'm sparring the idiot at noon! I have to take a shower and stretch and--"  
  
Kel slapped her forhead. "How could I forget, with everyone talking about it? Calm down! Boys, could you leave for a little?"  
  
"Sure," "Course," "See you later, Kel," they all muttered, most of them trying not to laugh.   
Kel turned around. "First of all, where's Lalasa? We need to get you some fighting clothes. Lalasa!" she yelled.   
  
"Yes, my lady?" Lalasa asked, coming out of the privy room, where I had spent half the night.  
  
"Could you take Laurie's measurements and get her some things at the tailors'? Just to borrow?"  
  
"Of course, my lady," Lalasa took out a knotted cord. She used it to get my measurements (duh), and then left. Kel looked at me. "Why don't you go take a bath? There's soap in there," she said.  
  
"Sounds good me," I said, and left.   
  
After my bath, Lalasa had come back and gave me some thin pants and a shirt. I put that on with my own underwear, socks, and tennies. I pulled my hair back with a scrunchie and began doing stretches while Kel and Lalasa watched.  
  
After I did the regular warm-ups, I went through and did ten of every kick I knew, each leg, starting with the easiest. That took me awhile. Normally I only did five of each, each leg, except when I was doing a really big sparring match. Then I went back and did ten more of each of the most important counter kicks. Then I did punches, upper cuts, blocks, throws, and sidesteps. After that I collasped on the bed.   
  
"Tired?" Kel asked.   
  
"Like, totally," I answered.  
  
"I was wondering....if you've ever got time, will you teach me some of that? We don't learn nearly that much."  
  
"I'd be happy to," I told her truthfully. "On one condition: you teach me whatever you're learning in weapons practice."  
  
"Deal!" We shook hands on it, just as the boys came into the room.  
  
"Stretched out?" Neal asked, pulling Kel off the bed.  
  
"Yep," I said with a smile.  
  
"Good," he said, helping me uop. He frowned. "What?" I asked.  
  
"You're tired," he said.  
  
"Duh! I was just doing kicks for like, an hour!" I told him.  
  
"Can't have that," he muttered, concentrating. Then I wasn't tired anymore.  
  
"Whad you do?" I asked.  
  
"Healer's Gift, remember?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. Thanks."  
  
"Anything for the girl who's attempting to do what I've always wanted to do to the Stump," he said loftily.  
  
"Whatever. Let's just get to the practice courts. I'm ready to kick some Wyldon butt!"  
  
  
  
  
  
When we got to the pratice courts, Wyldon was already stretched out. He handed me some padded junk, like the sparring gear I wore at home: helmet, chest protector, mouth piece, arm guards, and shin guards. I put them on, and we went on to the fighting arena as some dude read the rules. Basically, any move was legal, which was a change, and another change was that the fight would go until someone gave up. Normally the matches lasted one or two minutes, four at the most.  
  
"Ready--Begin!" the man shouted. I didn't budge. It was never a good idea to make the first move. So Wyldon did. I turned, blocking his kick, and landed on of my own. He countered, stepping out of the way.  
  
The match went on like this for fifteen minutes or so. My face was calm, I knew, but inside I was screaming. *Thank you, Mom,* I thought, *for teaching me the perfect poker face.* The longest sparr I'd ever been in lasted three and a half minutes. Right now, I was in trouble.   
  
I was thinking about giving up. It seemed like the best idea, I'd lasted this long against him.   
  
"What in the WORLD are you thinking, Makensri?!?!" I could almost hear my tae kwon do instructor, Mr. Barns, right in front of me. "What, you think you'll go all prissy and scared-in-front-of-a-mouse-girl on me? No way, girl, not when I've got you to second-degree black belt! Do you remember how long I worked on that flyiong side kick with you? You're not giving, not if I can help it!"   
  
It was like a slap back to reality. *Thanks, Mr. B,* I thought. *I needed that.* I noticed what Wyldon was doing. He was getting ready to launch a round house kick. I was going to need energy for what I was planning. I reached deep inside of me, searching for something to keep me up. I had only done this once before, right after Dad had died. I found it, and sent whatever it was all over my body.   
  
Just when Wyldon launched the kick, I ducked, swept his other leg out from under him, and quickly pinned his shoulders. "I forfiet," he said after a minute, when he realized there was no way out. "Laurie Makensri is the winner." I helped him up, and he said, "We shall have to see about hiring you as a martial arts instructor."  
  
"Can we talk about this later? All I want to do is go to sleep," I said, and so Faleron and Kel helped me back to her room, congraduating me all the way.  
  
When I got there, I didn't even bother taking my tennies off, and fell instantly asleep.  
  
  
Author's Note: Okay, here's an explaination for my name. I'm sure you all get the "Evil-roger-ralon-ozorne-joren" part, but some people don't get the rest of it. Cleon's in there because I WANT KEL TO END UP WITH NEAL!!!! Don't flame me for it, it's just the way I am. You-know-who and Malfoy are from the Harry Potter books, and I don't like either of them. To understand Eidon, you have to watch Dragonheart, the BEST movie in the world. Arwan is the bad guy in The Prydain Chronicles (great books, read them). And Charles the Seventh is the IDIOT of a king who didn't even TRY to help Joan of Arc when she got captured by the English (stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID! He killed a SAINT, for cryin out loud!) I was going to add in Christina Aguilara, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, and Leonardo Di Craprio (yes, I meant to spell it like that!) but they wouldn't all fit. So see ya!  
  
  



	5. OUCH!

  
When I woke up, I moaned and clutched my head in my hands. I'd had headaches before, but this was not a headache. This was a MIGRAINE. My mom got migraines once in a while, but this was THE worst headache both of us put together must've ever had. It took me a minute to notice how much the rest of me hurt. Just then I heard voices in the hall. "Oh, great," muttered. "All I need are a couple pages and squires to see me in this sorry state." When Kel and her friends came in, though, some jumped around the bed, some applauded, and Neal and Cleon slapped my back.   
  
"Owww!" I yelled. "Did it ever occur to you guys that I might be the least bit SORE?!?! And would you quiet down, I've got a migraine here!" Cleon was trying not to laugh again. "And would you SHADDUP, Mr. I've-got-a-crush-on-Kel?!?" All noise in the room immediatly stopped, then started up again.   
  
"What? Cleon likes Kel?"  
  
"Cleon liiikes Keeeeeeel, Cleon liiikes Keeeeeel!"  
  
"Cleon and Kel, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage--"  
  
"EVERYONE GET OUT!!!!! Except for Cleon and Kel!" I yelled.   
  
After the room was pretty much emptied, I said to Cleon, "Sorry, Cleon. I didn't know that they'd understand what 'crush' meant. I didn't think that was a Tortall thing."  
  
"As soon as you're better, I think I'll pound you," Cleon muttered. Kel buried her face in her hands.  
  
"Man," I said, changing the subject. "I should've asked Neal to stay, maybe then he could help me with this headache."  
  
"Why don't you heal yourself?" A voice commented from the doorway.  
  
"A) who are you, and b) huh?" I said. A VERY tall man walked into the room. He had long, dark brown hair, tied into a ponytail, and dark eyes.   
  
"Numair Salamin," he tole me. "And you have a very strong healer's Gift, among other things."  
  
"WHAT?!?!?" I screamed.   
  
He held up his hands. "I'll go now. I don't think you're in that good a mood." He left.  
  
Neal poked his head in the doorway. "Kel, Cleon, are either of you coming to the Dancing Dove with us?"  
  
I groaned. "Don't you have classwork or something?" I asked.  
  
He grinned. "Lord Wyldon gave everyone a day off because of the fight, and Eda Bell announced at dinner that we had tomorrow off too, since Lord Wyldon would most likely be too sore to move. Thank you, Laurie. By the way, do you want to come to the inn with us? It'll be fun."  
  
I shook my head. "No thanks. I think I'll just stay here and wallow in self-pity."  
  
"Aw, come on, it'll be fun," A crowd of squires had gathered around the doorway.   
  
"Did it occur to any of you that I CAN'T WALK?!?!" I shouted.  
  
"All right," Neal said. "You all go ahead. Kel and Laurie and I will be coming."  
  
"What're you going to do?" the prince asked.  
  
"Get my father. Laurie can't miss us toasting her victory."  
  
"I'll stay," Faleron said.   
  
"All right," Cleon said, and left with the group. Neal and Faleron left to get Duke Baird, which left me and Kel, since Lalasa was off somewhere.  
  
"The squires like you," she commented.   
  
"Aren't you all supposed to be, like, off with your knight-masters or something?"  
  
She shook her head. "The king called an emergency meeting of all knights, so everyone's back. Except for Lady Alanna," she added bitterly.   
  
"So what's Neal doing here?"  
  
"She sent him to tell the king she wouldn't be coming, and told him to stay til Midsummer."  
  
"Oh. Listen, Kel, I'm sorry for the whole Cleon thing--"  
  
"Don't worry about it." she answered as Neal, Faleron, and Duke Baird came in.   
  
Duke Baird used his Gift to examine what happened. "I'm impressed," he told me. "Those are the worst injuries I have ever seen from a fight, and that includes a certain lady squire's, er, accomplishments."  
  
Kel smiled impishly. "It was a long fight," I said.   
  
"Nineteen and a half minutes," Faleron supplied.  
  
I whistled. "That's, oh, sixteen minutes longer than any sparr I've ever been in. So, whad I do to myself?" I asked the duke.  
  
"Broken rib, bruised collarbone, right shoulder muscles pulled, also the muscles in your left leg, broken nose, damaged leg tendon, three crushed joints, miscellanious cuts and bruises, not to mention the worst headache I've seen since the Immortals War."  
  
"That's a LOT," I said.   
  
"Congradulations, Laurie," Neal said. "That beats the time Kel took on Joren and his cronies on her own."  
  
"I'm not sure if that's a compliment, but thanks."  
  
After I was sewn back together, the squires gave me a chance to clean up. I went into the privy room and took a quick bath, being careful of my still sore muscles, and looked in the mirror. I hated how I looked, even if Julie had once called me the "queen of beauty" as a joke, but slightly seriously. I had a full red mouth which made me use more chapstick than all the other girls in the school put together, blue eyes that looked like the sky on a semi-cloudy day, and blonde hair. I sighed. I loved my hair, and I hated it. On good hair days, it looked beautiful. It curled into perfect honey-blonde ringlets, trailing below my shoulders, and my bangs lied perfectly flat. On my bad hair days, I just wanted to take a razor and shave my head. It frizzed up, got static at any time, wouldn't do what I wanted it to, wrecked whatever style I had put it in at the slightest movement, curled like summer even if it was January, and my bangs stood straight up. Unfortuately, I had a good hair day about once every 72 days. Today was in-between.  
  
I walked back into the room. "Ready to go?" Kel asked. I nodded, so we left for the Dancing Dove.   
  
  
Author's Note: Nothing to say. I'll get the next chapter up quick, and if I can talk my sister into lending me her Savage Garden CD, maybe a songfic! Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I had a bad day yesterday, and when I checked and saw all the nice reviews it was great. See ya!   
  
  
  



	6. At the Dancing Dove

When we got to the inn, there were a LOT of people there. The pages and squires waved us over to their table.   
  
"Hey Neal," Seaver said, "Master Numair's supposed to be picking a new apprentice tomorrow!"  
  
"Really? Wonder who the 'lucky' person's going to be?" Faleron said.   
  
"I'm just glad it's not me!" Prosper of Tameron said.   
  
"So," I said, "you guys know any good court gossip?"  
  
"Gossip?", "What's gossip?", and "Huh?" were the replies I got.   
  
"Oh my GAWD, you don't know what gossip is? It's, you know, the unconfirmed junk you talk about at lunch?"  
  
Silence.   
  
Merric thought for a minute. "Would the answers to the algebra assignment be gossip?"  
  
I slapped my hand to my forehead. "Well, since you don't know, I'll just give you examples!"  
  
So for the next two hours I bored them to death with tales of Regina High School gossip: what Tara wore to the last school dance, that Tess was secretly meeting Jake, Nicole's boyfriend, ect., ect.   
  
Then Neal clamped his hand over my mouth and said, "That's it. Go annoy someone else." Then I noticed that in the middle of the room there was a thing like a platform built. Some people were getting up and singing on it.   
  
"Oo! Oo! Oo!" I shouted. "Kareocke!" (A/N--no, I didn't spell that right!)   
  
OK, I act weird when I have a Pepsi, so you can imagine what I was like after a glass of ale.   
"I knew I loooooved you befooore Iiiiiiiiiiiii met you, I think I dreeeeeaamed you intoooooo liiife, I knew I looooooved you befoooore Iiiiiii met yoooou, I have been waiting aaaaaaaaaallllllll myyyyyy liiiiiiiife!"   
  
"Oops, I, did it again, I played with your heart, got lost in the game, oh baby baby.. Oops! you think I'm in looove, that I'm sent from abooooooooooooooooooove, I'm not that innocent!"  
  
"Neeeeeeaaar, faaaar, whereeeeever you aaaare, in my heaaart, you will alwaaays goooooo oooon!"  
  
"If you wanna be with me, baby there's a price to pay, I'm a genie in a bottle, you gotta rub me the right way!"  
  
"She bangs, she bangs, oh yeah baby, she moves, she moves! I'm crazy cuz she looks like a flower but she stings like a bee--like every girl, in history!"  
  
"Don't wanna be a fool for you, just another player in this game for two, might sound crazy but it ain't no lie, baby bye bye bye!"  
  
Whoooo let the dogs out! Hoo, hoo, Whoooo let the dogs out, hoo, hoo!"  
  
"Lok at that, pitiful, just beacuse I let you go, there you go, look at that, so don't go ta pieces like that!"  
  
Right when I was about to start "If you're Gone," Neal came up and said, "Come on, Laurie, I think you're scaring the murderers." To make a long story short, by the time we got out of there, I was not looking too great.   
  
"Did I really sing Ricky Martin up there? Cuz he's evil. And so is Britney Speares, Christina Aguilara, and Leonardo DiCaprio. None of those songs were his, but I sang My Heart will Go On, and that's from Titanic, and he was in that, and--"  
  
At that time we had gotten to Kel's door, and Lalasa gasped and said, "My lady, what did you give her?!"  
  
Faleron winced. "A glass of ale, a small one. Actually, half a glass. We diluted it with water."  
  
"I'd hate to see what whiskey would do to her!" I heard someone mutter.  
  
"Ricky Spears is evil," I said knowingly. "And so's Christina Martin, and Leonardo Aguilara, and--"  
  
"Kel, just get her into bed!" Neal said, so I was shoved into the room, the door was shut, and I went into my bathroom to change into my nightshirt.  
  
When I came out, Kel was waiting. "That was really funny, but those songs were horrible!" she said.  
  
"Scuse me? Those are some of the so-called best hits of our times! You know what?" I said, sobering up. "In seventh grade, on the last day before Christmas break, Mrs. Globokar, our world geo teacher, brought in a kareoke machine. It was great."  
  
"Did you sing anything?" Kel asked.  
  
"No, but Jess and Juls and I were laughing about when Dan attempted to sing Wild Thang for weeks afterwards." I smiled sadly.   
  
"You miss them," Kel said.  
  
"Yeah, I do. But you know what?"   
  
She shook her head.  
  
"This is the adventure of a lifetime, and I'll make the most of it."  
  
That was when, for some reason, I started to cry.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: I AM SOOOOO SORRY!! I know, this took like 2 weeks to get up! But, I am not making this up, for the last 2 weeks my computer's been broken down, so I couldn't get on the internet, get email, ect. *Gets down on knees and begs* Do you forgive me? Please? Hope this chapter kept you entertained!  
  
Annoying Disclaimer: All the songs belong to whoever wrote them.  
  
Apology to People in my Class: If any of you are out there, I apologize for using your names. That means you, Michael, and you, Tess, and you, Jonathan, and you, Dan, and you, Nicole, and you, Jake, and Nicole, I'm sorry, I know you don't like Jake, but it's a story and most likely neither of you are reading this since you haven't read Tamora Pierce you evil people! Oh, yeah, and you, Mrs. Globokar. And the kareoke thing really did happen! Oh, and sorry, Janice, since pretty much you're Jess, and Juls is no one--yet... BEWARE, CLASSMATES!!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry about that....that was Evil-roger-ralon-ozorne-joren-cleon-malfoy-youknowwho-eidon-arwan-charlestheseventh---OK, that was too long, from now on I'm refering to him as Evly. Got it? Good.)  
  
  



	7. Really Short Chapter

  
  
I woke up to voices. Kel. Lalasa. The dude that had told me something about having the Gift.   
  
I groaned and sat up. The voices were in the hallway, so I got up, grabbed my last clean clothes and went into the bathroom.   
  
When I came out, I went into the hall. The dude said noticed me first. "Laurie," he said. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"   
  
All of us went into Kel's room. "Laurie," the man said. "My name is Numair Salamin, a mage. And, well, it seems you have a large amount of the Gift."  
  
"Really? Dude!" I said, very much a 21st century teen. "That's so COOL!"  
  
"Yes, however cool it may be, you need to be trained. I wish to take you as my apprentice."  
  
I thought for a minute. "Your last apprentice was Daine, wasn't it?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Okay. Sure. Whatever."  
  
"Good. Now the king wants to see you."  
  
"Well," I told him confidently. "Let's get going."  
  
  
Author's Note: Sorry, short, I know, and I'm sorry it took so long. Right now I have good news and bad news. Good news is, the thing that has been keeping me so busy for the last two weeks, the Theatre Progam, has its big show tonight, so that'll be done with. No more every night practices from 7-10! The bad news is I just got a part in the spring musical, The Music Man, which performs in May, and practices can go from 4-10. So don't expect a lot from me please! In the next part, we'll have Laurie teaching hand-to-hand combat to pages and squires! That'll be good, so please wait for it! Love yas!   
  
  
Whatever thing: You know what? In the musical, I'm a River City kid in the Chorus. My older sister, Katy, is a River City mom! My sister's my mother! AAAAHHHHH!   
  
  



	8. WHAT'S Your Name?

  
  
When we got to the room, the king wasn't there. However, Wyldon, Lord Raoul, Gareth the Younger, and their squires (Kel and Esmond) were.   
  
"The king was unable to come," a fusty old man in a clerk's uniform said. I hadn't noticed him. "So, let us begin." He turned to me. "You claim your name is Laurie Makensri?"  
  
"No," I asnswered.   
  
He sighed impatiently. "I could've taken early retirement, but, no, I had to serve the King. So your name isn't Laurie Makensri?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Your name IS Laurie Makensri?"   
  
"No."  
  
"Then what, by Mithros, IS IT?!"  
  
"It's LauriELI Makensri. You forgot the ELI."  
  
He sighed again. "Listen, I just want to get this done with. Now, where are you from?"  
  
"Iowa."  
  
"Where....is...Iowa?!" he asked slowly, as if trying not to get mad.  
  
"In the USA, as any idiot knows!"  
  
"WHERE'S THE USA, &*%$@#?"   
"Wow," I said, stunned. "I thought I was the only person who could cuss like that!"  
  
The guy came out from behind the desk where he was scribbling down what I said, came about an inch away from my face, and said, "Listen, missy, I don't like this job AT ALL. I would've retired three years ago, why I didn't, I don't know. Now just tell me where the USA is!"  
  
"It's in North Amer--you know what? Forget. I'm from a place you never heard of. Got it? Good."  
  
"What are you good at?" the clerk asked.   
  
"Martial arts, writing, somewhat good at math, procrastinating, getting bad grades on my science tests, making my room a mess and then cleaning my house--you don't want to know--and singing."   
  
"Singing?" Wyldon asked.  
  
"Yep, singing!" I answered hyperly. Then I started singing. Kel and Esmond covered their ears. "Oh, I'm not all that bad!" and then I started singing "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" by Weird Al (love that guy!).  
  
"We get the idea!" Gary said.   
  
I smiled in my sweet, innocent little way that I only do when I'm planning something. Back home, people ran away in fear when I smiled like that. Creatures here were not so wise.   
  
At least, most of them weren't.  
  
"Laurie, you're starting to scare me again! Laurie, Laurie, don't smile like that!" Kel said.   
  
"Hey, I'm not doing anything yet! OOO!" I yelled. "I just remembered two more things I'm good at!"  
  
"Black God save us," Esmond muttered. I gave him my evil look.  
  
"Playing pranks and 'The Fly' impressions!"  
  
"'The Fly'?" Raoul asked.  
  
"Yep! Heeeeeeelllllp meeeee, pleeeaaaase dooon't eaaaat meeee!" I said in a high, squeaky voice.   
  
"I did not need to hear that!" the clerk said.  
  
"Whatever!"   
Wlydon coughed. "Laurie, about you helping the Shangs--"  
  
"I'd be glad to!" I said, now very hyperish.  
  
"It would be a real paying job. Numair?"  
  
"She could teach the pages and be my apprentice." Numair said.   
  
"Yea! Fun! I gettta torture Oooowwweeen! I getta torture Oooooweeen!" I sang.   
  
  
Author's Note: I'm sorry! The keyboard, which I spilled soda on, is now fixed! Anyvays, hope you liked it! Wait till you see what Laurie's planning (hint: think what she's good at). That'll be pretty funny. Next chapter, we'll see what happens when Laurie gets the chance to torture Owen! Will she pass up on it? I don't think so!   
  
  



	9. Sad Lil' Chapter without the Torturing

  
Kel, Esmond, and I walked out of the room.   
  
"So, what day is it?" I asked.  
  
"Saturday," Esmond said.   
  
"Cool."  
  
"Laurie, do you want to come with me and Esmond to study group tonight?" Kel asked.   
  
"Sure. Whatever."  
  
We went back to Kel's room, and had just sat down when Numair knocked on the door and said, "Laurie, if you would get your things, I could show you your room."  
  
"K," I said, grabbing my backpack.   
  
"That's it?" he asked.   
  
"Yup."  
  
"We need to get you some normal clothes," he muttered. I was slightly put-off by the "normal clothes" remark, but I didn't say anything.   
  
He lead me up to what must have been his and Daine's room, then took me one door over. "This is your room. It's always open in case I get a new apprentice or something, so this works well," he said.   
  
"Sure, whatever."   
  
"You say that a lot."   
  
"I know," I told him, opening the door.   
  
The room was really, REALLY nice. I was standing in a sort of living room thing, with two chairs and a table, plus large amounts of bookshelves and a desk. There were two doors coming off of that room. One, I found upon inspection, lead to a bedroom with a bed (duh), a trunk, another bookshelf, a nightstand, and a dresser. The other lead to a bathroom.   
  
"Is this all right?" he asked.   
  
"It's great," I said.   
  
"Good. Come on, I want you to meet Daine."  
  
"Daine? As in, Daine-Daine? THE Daine?"  
  
"Yes, THE Daine. Now come on!"   
  
He took me into his and Daine's room. I was pretty nervous. She was one of my favorite characters. What if she didn't like me and thought I was a ditz or something?  
  
When we got into the room, I saw a woman sitting on a chair. She stood up, smiled, and said, "Hello. You must be Laurie. The one who got Master Jehnen so fussy."  
  
"Yup. That'd be me."   
  
We talked for a while. I really liked Daine. One thing I noticed though, was that Daine wasn't pretty. She was GORGEOUS! If I looked half as pretty as her, then I would've had all the guys at school begging me to dance with them. Then again, they would've been the shallow guys that thought beauty was the only thing that mattered. So I was kind of glad I didn't look like her.   
  
Numair dragged me off to get some clothes later. After I put the clothes away, I walked down to Kel's room, since it was getting late. Kel smiled when she saw me, and we went to the study group.   
I talked with some of the pages and squires for a while, or the ones that didn't have homework. Then Warric said he didn't understand the poem he was supposed to write about, so I helped him with that. After a while, Neal asked, out of the blue, "Laurie, what sort of girls were Jess and Juls?" I had told him about them when I was at the tavern.   
  
I looked at him blankly. "Who?"   
  
He looked at me, very surprised. "Your best friends, Jess and Juls. The crazy ones that you were telling us about."  
  
"From where?"  
  
"Iowa!"   
  
I shook my head crazily. "Oh my God, I can't be forgetting about home already!" I said, close to tears. What was wrong with me? Was I losing my mind? Was it possible for me to forget about my home already? Could I be forgetting my heritage?  
  
The scariest thing was that I didn't know the answer.   
  
  
Author's Note: Sorry, I know I said Laurie would be torturing the pages in this chapter, but, well, I just can't write humor right now. See, last night at school we had a dance, and I spent the entire time getting up my courage to ask this guy I liked to dance. Then at the last dance, I said that I was going to ask him, and was looking for him when I saw this girl pulling him off, saying that he was going to dance with her friend since he hadn't danced with a single girl all night. So, I'm pretty depressed right now. Good news is, here spring break just started, so I'll have more time to write. Later.   
  
  



	10. FINALLY! The Torturing!

  
I stayed up most of that night thinking. I couldn't forget. I couldn't. At about one in the morning, I got out of bed and went over to my bag. "This doesn't mean I like you, Gramma. You left me and Mama when we needed you. You thought it was our fault Dad died. It wasn't," I muttered. I pulled out the locket from Gramma. It was silver-heart shaped, with ivy etched around the edges. I put it on and looked at it.   
  
  
* "I'm sorry, ma'am, but your husband is dead. He was--" the man said.  
  
"NO! Dad's isn't dead! There's a mistake! He wouldn't die! My tournament's tomorrow! He wouldn't miss that! HE'S NOT DEAD!" a ten-year-old me shouted and ran upstairs.   
  
"No, Dad," I whispered. "No. You can't leave me here. You can't. You can't!" I collasped sobbing against the pillow.*  
  
  
I shook my head to clear it of the memories. The necklace brought them back. They were the worst memories I had, but they were memories. That was all that mattered.   
  
______________________________________________________________________________  
  
Sunday went by quickly. Numair explained to me what I was going to learn. That night, I fell asleep, worried about the next day.   
  
______________________________________________________________________________  
  
When I woke up, I stretched out very quickly, took a bath, and went down to Kel's room jsut as the bell rang. Yesterday Lord Wyldon had told me that I should eat with the squires during meals unless Numair needed me for something.   
  
"Ready to go?" I asked Kel when I got there.  
  
She smiled, and we went to the mess hall. Most of the squires were already there when we got there. We talked while we ate, and then it was time for practice.   
  
I left first, since I had to get the practice courts early. Anyways I met the Shangs and they explained that I should teach the squires and fourth year pages some new kicks. "Oh, good," I said when they told me. "I do getta torture Owen!"   
  
So, I think you can guess that I was happy.   
  
When the squires and fourth-years got here, the Shangs told them to line up by me.   
  
"All right," I said. "First of all, my name's Laurie Makensri. Some of you probably know me. I'm from another world where you guys are figments of the Almighty Tamora Pierce's immagination. Get it? Good. Any questions?"  
  
Vinson raised his hand. "How come YOU'RE our teacher?"   
  
I looked at him. He was about six feet even, ten inches taller than me. *I can pull this,* I thought. "You really want to know, Vinson?" I asked.   
  
He smirked and nodded.   
  
"All right. Come up here. Now, are you positive you want to know?"   
  
He nodded and smirked again.   
  
"Ooookaaay. Now launch a round-house."  
  
He did. I grabbed his leg and flipped him onto his back, and pinned his shoulders. "Cuz I can do that and you can't," I told him loudly. All the squires were laughing. "Now then," I said cheerfully. "Do you guys know jump-spin-hook kick? It's easier than it sounds." They shook their heads. "Do you know spin hook kick?" They nodded. "Great. Now, for jump spin hook kick, all you do is add a jump." I showed them. "Got it? Good."   
  
I noticed they were doing it wrong. "No no no no no! Not like that! Okay, everyone into fighting stance. Done? Now what we're gonna do is twist our head and shoulders around, and then jump 360 degrees, and land just where we started. Then do it the other direction. On my count! Hona! Dul! Sett! Nett! Dahs! Yahs! Yogul! Yodul! Aha! Youl! Again! Hona! Dul! Sett! Nett! Das! Yas! Yogul! Yodul! Aha! Youl!"   
  
I kept them going like this for about ten minutes. Then I noticed Owen was starting to look green. "Okay, people! Take a break!" A minute later I said, "Okay, NOW try the kick!" Once they had mastered that, I said, "Okay! Just enough time to learn tornado kick!" They all groaned. Then the bell rang.   
  
"Okay, tomorrow we'll learn Audobaun and flying side kick, so get a good night's sleep! Bye!" The Shangs and Numair, who had been watching, I guess, were laughing their heads off.   
  
"Well, Laurie," he said. "Congratulations. You've managed to become the most hated teacher here on your first day."  
  
"And I is just so proud of it!" I said perkily.   
  
He laughed. "Come on, I want to show you your horse."  
  
"MY horse? As in, MY horse?" I asked.  
  
He smiled. "As my apprentice, you're going to do a lot of traveling. You'll need a horse."   
  
"DUDE!" I said.   
  
So he showed me my horse. She was gorgeous, a red color with a mark on her right side that looked like a little person with wings. "Oo! I know what I'll name her! Fairy!"   
  
"FAIRY?"  
  
"Yes, Fairy!"   
  
We had a long debate over her name. I said that since she was my horse, I should get to name her, he said that it was a stupid name, ect., ect.   
  
I won.   
  
Just as the pages and squires came in for riding, Numair was trying to convince me to canter her.   
  
"No," I said.  
  
"Yes," he argued.  
  
"No."   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Listen, the last time I cantered, I fell off and got a broken wrist!"  
  
"All right. You can just go at a trot. Got it?"  
  
"Sure," I said as I got on.   
  
He slapped the horse, making Fairy canter.   
  
"NUUUUUUMAAAAAAIIIIIR!!!!!!!!"   
  
I fell off halfway around the ring. I stomped back over to him, covered in dirt.   
  
"You SOB!! You bastard! You--"  
  
"You aren't scared of cantering anymore, though, are you?"  
  
I glared at him. "I hate it when other people are right," I muttered.   
  
"You had better go take a bath before lunch," he said.   
  
"That's it! You are goin' down!"   
  
  
Author's Note: Hmmm. Am I spoiling you? I dunno, one chapter a day.... oh well. There's the torturing. And thanks for all the advice in the reviews. Maybe I will try tripping her next time..... Hope you like!   
  



	11. Shakespeare and Sugar

  
At lunch, everyone laughed when they saw me. "Oh, SHADDUP!" I yelled at Vinson. "I haven't really ridden for eight years!"   
Neal smirked when I sat down. "The gods were punishing you for being so mean to us." he said.   
"Hey! Mr. Barns did WAY worse to us, so you shut your trap, o idol of idiot worshippers!"   
Cleon slapped Neal on the back while Neal stared. "That fits you, all right!"  
"Did you make that up?" Merric asked.  
"No way! That's Shakespeare," I told him.   
"Who's he?" Seaver asked.   
"Oh my God! You don't know who Shakespeare is? He's like the greatest writer of all time! Well, Tammy's better, but let's not go there... 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' Ever heard of that?"  
They shook their heads.  
" 'Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble?"   
Nope.   
"Man, you guys have a lot to learn...."  
Neal changed the subject. I don't think he liked me saying he was inferior to me, even though he was. "Laurie, nice necklace," he said. "Where did you get it?"  
I looked at the cursed locket, as I called it. "My grandma gave it to me a while ago."  
"Oh. It's nice." he said.   
"Thanks."   
  
  
The next morning, I made myself act cheerful. I thought that it would annoy Owen. So when the pages and squires came into the practice courts, I said/sang, "Oh, come on! Smile! 'Gray skies are gonna clear up! Put on a happy face! Brush off the clouds and cheer up! Put on a happy face! We're rolling back prices all over the place, so put on a happy face!'"   
They just looked at me like I was crazy.   
"Okay," I said. "Let me put it this way: Smile or fifty pushups."  
You would be amazed at how wide those smiles were.   
"Muuuuch better! Aren't you all just little balls of sunshine!" I said as I pinched Owen's cheek. "Now, warm-ups! Five high punches, fast as you can go! Keep you technique, though, now start!"   
The morning went by quickly. Numair didn't give me a "riding lesson," so I didn't see the pages until that afternoon, when Numair gave a lesson to them. He was in a pretty bad mood, I didn't catch why, but I didn't know until later. So that afternoon when he asked for some "rules to live by," and I raised my hand and said what I said, I didn't know I was waving the red flag in front of an angry bull.   
"When all else fails," I said hyperly, "use SUGAR!"   
Numair turned to face me very slowly. "Um....make that a text book....I get scared easily? Hurting people isn't good? The Golden Rule? It's against the Scriptures to kill? DON'T KILL ME!!" I screeched as he started running at me.   
I dodged around desks and chairs, while Daine, who was helping Numair with the class, laughed her head off. Numair ran after me.   
"Class...dissmissed!" Daine gasped as she ducked a bottle of ink.   
  
  
Three hours later, I was in my room, holding an ice pack to my eye while Daine looked at a bruise on my arm. "And how did you get this?" she asked.   
"A flying text book," I told her, as the squires, who had wanted to see how bad I looked, laughed.   
"Uh-huh. And the black eye?"   
"I tripped and hit the chair."   
"All right...so Numair didn't give you any of these?" She pointed at my mass of bruises and scrapes.  
"Not intetionally," I said sullenly.   
"Well, I'll see you later then. I'll try to convince him not to be too hard on you."   
"Bye," I said, resettling the ice pack.   
And so the weeks wore on.   
  
  
  
  
  



	12. Homesickness and Rumors

Casseiopeia  
Part Twelve  
  
A few weeks later, in early June, I was sitting with the study group. The pages were gone on the trip-thing with Segent Ezeko and a few knights, Lord Wyldon and the Shangs having stayed, so only the squires were there.   
  
Out of the blue, I said, "You know what's weird?"  
  
"What?" Cleon asked.  
  
"That when I got here, there weren't any rumors or anything. Everyone just sort of accepted me. I mean, it's nice, but at my school, we didn't like like anyone, I mean *really* accept them, until they proved themselves or something." Most of the squires shifted uncomfortably. "What?" I asked, and paused. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there? There is. Now tell me!"   
  
"Well, Laurie," Faleron said. "There've been some rumors in the court, that--uh--"  
  
"Faleron, honey, SPIT IT OUT!" I yelled.  
  
"Some people think that you're not from another world or anything, and it's all a big hoax!" Merric said quickly. Faleron slapped his hand to his forehead.  
  
"Nice, Merric," he said while I stood in shock. "Real tactful."  
  
"Hoax? HOAX?!?! I AM NOT A HOAX! D' they want proof? I can tell you anything about the Periodic Table, how's that? I'm SO not a hoax!"   
  
"Glad you're taking it so well," Neal muttered.  
  
I spun around and glared at him, saw the look on his face and said, quietly, "Guys? Do *you* think I made this up?"   
  
"No!" "Of course not!" "You're too different to be from around here!" "How can you even think that?"   
  
They all said they didn't, but I saw their faces. They believed the rumors.  
  
Right then, I learned a hard lesson in life.  
  
They didn't want to believe me.  
  
They didn't want to.   
  
  
  
I avoided the squires for the next three weeks. In class, I had been quiet. I only said orders, and quietly. Even Numair started to notice. Of course, all this just caused more rumors to spring up, terrible ones. I started to wonder whether the squires had spread them.   
  
First I was a street rat from Scanra.   
  
Then I was a prostitute from Galla.  
  
Then I was a street rat turned prostitute who was born in Scanra, and then moved to Galla.   
  
The most flattering was that I was a princess who had slept her way around court.   
  
I don't even want to write down the worst.   
  
The rumors were only part of it. I was getting to be homesick. The initial amazment and awe I had felt when I arrived was wearing off. I missed my mom, eccentric as she was. I missed Jess and Juls, and I missed my other best friends, Niki and Joni. I missed Niki's angry weasel impression, and Joni's sparkling clean mind. I missed Jul's animal rights activism, protests, refusal to wear silk, leather, or wool, and all the crazy things she did when she was on sugar. I missed Jess talking about her 249 page book, and calling me in the middle of the night because she had a weird dream and wanted me to interpret it. I wanted to go home.   
  
I fell asleep crying at night. My assignments from Numair sucked. I was less attentive when teaching the squires. I ate less. I had bags under my eyes from staying up late trying to figure out what I should do. And then I started having nightmares. At first they were smaller things, when I lost a tae kwon do tournament, when I failed a test. Then they turned into my dad dying, his funeral, Gramma telling me and Mom it was our fault Dad was dead.   
  
Mom had been an only child, and her parents were dead. Gramma had told all my dad's side of the family not to talk to us. We were the strangers. We were Irish, unlike the rest of the German family. My aunt Penny was the only one who didn't listen to her. She helped us out. She even moved to our city so she could take care of me while Mom got back on her feet. I remembered the day she died, killed in a car crash. I had been in the car. I survived. Gramma talked to me once after that. She said I was cursed.   
  
All of these gave me nightmares. Sometimes I woke up screaming, sometimes I woke up crying. Either way, I didn't get much sleep.   
  
  
The worst nightmare I had was a few days before Midsummer. In the dream, I was watching three people. One was a boy, with blonde hair, another was a beautiful woman, also with blonde hair. The third was older than the other two, with brown, slightly gray hair, and tattered clothes. They were talking by a fire.  
  
"I want that girl--whatever her name is--dead," the woman said.  
  
"Don't worry, my lady, it serves all our purposes to get rid of her," the man said. "She will be taken care of, in due time."   
  
"The spell you put on that charm of hers, and the rumors, they're working well," the boy said. "I saw her today. She's paler, and thinner, and, well, let's just say that if we can keep this up, she'll be dead by Midwinter." He grinned evily.   
  
The man laughed. "If I have it my way, she'll be gone by the next equinox!"   
  
I sat up and almost screamed. I stopped myself. I wasn't going to wake people up. They'd come in, tell me it was all right, ask me if I wanted to talk about it, jsut like Mom used to do.  
  
By Midsummer, my skin was dead white. My hair was thinner and limp. Even my lips were pale. I had tearstains down my cheeks. I was about ten pounds lighter. I was so distracted by the nightmares I ran into things, and was constantly falling asleep on my homework, or at dinner, causing me to eat even less.   
  
That afternoon, Lord Wyldon called me into his office. I thought it was about the fact that I looked like a hag. But when I got there, two things were sitting on his desk.   
  
Jess's battery-powered radio and a map of the globe.   
  
I almost started crying right there. Not from saddness. From joy. Here was my salvation. This would prove the rumors were wrong. And maybe, if I heard the songs, I could deal with my homesickness better.   
  
"Uh, Laurie," Lord Wyldon said. "Do you have any idea what these objects are?"  
  
"Hellloooo! That's a radio, and a map!" I said, smiling for the first time in weeks.   
  
"Oh....since you know what they are, maybe you should take them."  
  
"Thank you, sir!" I told him, and walked out of the room.   
  
  
That night, after the initial happiness of finding the stuff had worn off, I grabbed the map and walked quickly toward where the study group was meeting. I was still mad at them. I knew they didn't believe me. So now I was going to prove it.   
  
Everyone looked amazed when I walked into the room. I had barely talked to them for weeks, and here I was, with some folded sheet of paper.   
  
I spread out the map on a table. "Here," I said, pointing, "is where I live, in Iowa. Here is where my Gramma lives, in New York City. Here's where my family went on vacation when I was six. Here's where my aunt almost got eaten by a bear. Here's Venezuela, where my Great Books teacher's daughter is studying birds. Here's Tasmania, where my pen pal lives. Here's Ireland, where my mom's parents are from. Here's Gettysburg, where a big Civil War battle was fought. Here's Pearl Harbor, which the Japanese bombed in 1942, which got America involved in World War II. Here's Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty." I looked at them. "Now you know I'm from another world. Deal with it." And with that, I turned on the ball of my foot, and strode out of the room.   
  
When I got to my room, I turned the radio on max. I had found out earlier that I could for some reason get a signal from my favorite radio station. "Orignal Prankster" was playing when I turned it on.   
  
"Laurie?" Numair yelled as he walked in. "What in the world is that racket?"   
  
I spun around, turned the music off, and said "That would be proof that I'm from the USA."  
  
"What in the world has gotten into you? You're pale, you're losing weight, you look awful, and you've been quiet for the past three weeks!"   
  
"Did you ever realize," I told him slowly, "that rumors can make a person's life a living hell?"   
  
"Oh, no," he groaned. "You heard, did you? I was hoping you wouldn't hear that. They're just rumors, Laurie. They can't do much harm."  
  
I was getting angrier every second. "Oh, yeah?" I asked. "YOU try having people call you a slut right and left! YOU try having your own friends not believing a word you say!"   
  
"Laurie...It can't be all that bad."  
  
"Yes it can! My life's been a living nightmare in the day, and I then I have real ones at night! I miss my mom, and my friends, I wish to dear God that I could talk to them for even a minute...heck! I even miss that parasite of a kid Nathan! I can't take it!"  
  
He was quiet for a minute. "I wasn't planning on doing this, but...It looks like you need it. Daine was already planning on it, and I wasn't but..."  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"Tomorrow most of the squires and knights are going to a fief up north. They've been having some problems with raiders and immortals. I think we should go. I'll talk to the king about it tonight."  
  
"That sounds good," I said in the weak way someone talks before they cry, and I sat down on my bed, and did just that. Numair put his arm around my shoulder and said, "It's alright, it's alright," which only made me cry more. That had been just what my dad said, the night before he died.   
  
Unheard by either of us, the door opened, and Kel, Neal, Faleron, Roald, Seaver, Merric, and Cleon walked in.   
  
"Laurie?" Kel asked. I stood up abruptly, and Numair stood up also. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Whad'dya think?" I told her tartly, wiping tears from my eyes.   
  
"What?" Merric asked.  
  
"Gee, there are rumors about me all over, I wanna go home, and my life's a mess. Everythings juuust dandy!"   
  
"I think I'll go talk to the king now," Numair said, and left.   
  
"So you're mad about us not believing you?" Neal asked.  
  
"Could you guys get any denser? I'm mad about you not God-damn believing me, I'm mad about the God-damn rumors, I'm mad about being God-damn stuck here, and I'm mad about the God-damn nightmares!"  
  
"Laurie...is it that time of the month or something?" Merric asked. I just glared at him.   
  
"All right...." Kel said. "Laurie, I want you to tell me everything, and if any of YOU--" she looked at the squires-- "say anything, I won't help you with your asignments for a month."   
  
So I told her everything that happened in the last three weeks, leaving out the nightmare about the three people, and she just listened. Didn't interrupt, didn't ask questions. She just listened.   
  
When I finished, she said, "All right, now, Neal, Cleon, Seaver, Merric, Faleron, Roald, could you leave?" After they were gone, she said, "You missed dinner, like you usually do, so why don't you take a bath and wash your hair, and I'll get something to eat?" When I argued I wasn't hungry, she shrugged and said, "All right."   
  
When I came out, Daine was there, and so was a very large tray of food. "You, Laurie," Daine said, "are going to eat. I don't care if I have to force your jaws open, but you're going to eat!" So I ate, while Kel told Daine what I had told her. After I finished, we turned on the radio, and they helped me pack for the trip. We laughed our heads off when I tried to do a BSB impression when "Larger than Life" was playing. Then Kel left to pack, but Daine got a blanket and slept on the floor of my room. She told me to wake her up if I had a nightmare. But I didn't. I fell into a deep sleep, and thanked God I had friends like these.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Hola! There's a nice five-pager for ya! Maybe it'll make up for the fact that I haven't posted in what, three weeks? Anyway, for the plot, I was planning to have the rumors be just a little thing and have Laurie back to her peppy self, but it sorta fit the story better to have it be a big thing. It was Evly's idea. Oh, well. I wrote it out so it still belongs to me! I told you it wouldn't be all humor, so NO COMPLAINING!!! Later!   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	13. Roadtrips and Ghosts

  
The next morning, someone said, "Laurie, time to get up!" I was only half awake, so I said, "No!" like a two year old and rolled towards the wall. Then that person was shaking my shoulder. I said "NO!" again and ignored them. They shook me a little harder, and so I (keep in mind, I'm half asleep) yelled, very loudly, "NO!!" and threw my fist back over my shoulder. I heard the person, who I now reconized as Numair, yell, "OW! Gods, you little b****!"   
  
THAT got me up. "Well, you were the bastard trying to wake me up!" I yelled, sitting up.   
  
"Oh, jush shu'up an' geh dwesseh!" Numair yelled. Apparantly I gave him a bloody nose.   
  
Later we were in the courtyard, about ready to leave. Neal said good-bye to everyone, and then he left for Pirate's Swoop. He wasn't going with the rest of the group. Kel, Merric, Seaver, Cleon, Faleron, Owen, and their knight-masters were, though.   
  
Sir Johan of Malorie's Peak, Owen's knight-master, said, "Numair, what in the name of the Goddess happened to your nose?"   
  
Numair muttered something that sounded like, "Muripoochedmignse."  
  
"What?"   
  
"Laurie punched my nose, okay!? Gods!"   
  
"Uh-oh," I muttered to Kel.   
  
I would rather not describe what happened next, since it involved a huge fight, a knight turned into a tree and back to knight, lots of cussing that I don't think the ickle kiddies should be exposed to, large amounts of blood, more cussing, some threats, a couple painful, lasting injuries, and a few screaching ladies.   
  
So we set off, much more battered than before. A little later in the morning, I rode up next to Numair. "So," I asked. "What fief are we going to again?"   
  
"Hannalof," he answered simply.  
  
"Oh. Like as in, Uline?"  
  
He looked at me strangly. "I'm not going to ask how you know that."  
  
I blushed. I had told him I was from another world and all, but I never mentioned the books to him, from the reation Kel gave me. "Total guess. So it's run by Uline's parents?"  
  
He shook his head. "No, they died in January. It's run by Uline's cousin, Lady Charrisse."  
  
"Who is, supposedly, the most beautiful woman in Tortall, prettier than even Thayet," Raoul said dryly, riding up beside us with Kel.  
  
"How old is she?" I asked.  
  
"Seventeen," Numair said. "About your age, am I right?"   
  
"Yupsies," I answered.  
  
"You two would probably get along very well, if she weren't an airhead with nothing on her mind but those of us of the opposite sex," Raoul said. I was under the impression that Raoul and Charrisse weren't the world's best friends.   
  
"Ouch. That's gotta hurt." I said, grinning.  
  
"What?" Raoul asked tartly.  
  
"What, did you just call her a slut or something?"   
  
"I should, but a knight should always treat women decently," he said sadly.   
  
Kel and I looked at each other. "What?" Raoul asked.   
  
"Nothing," I said innocently. Of course, I NEVER looked innocent, so of course Raoul suspected somthing was up.   
  
"One of the squires said something about a lady, didn't they?" Raoul looked at Kel.  
  
"A few years ago. It's nothing," Kel answered quickly.   
  
"Which boy about which lady?" he asked, raising his voice.   
  
"Hey, Raoul! It's gone, over, so forget about it, k?" I asked. I was getting more than a little worried.   
  
"Laurie, stay out of this!"   
  
I didn't that this was a matter I was involved in, so I dropped back to ride with the other squires. It was a pretty fun afternoon, with Faleron teasing me, me scwabbling with Merric, and Sir Adeon, Faleron's knightmaster, who was riding just ahead of us, looking back at us, grinning, and shaking his head. So then of course I immediatly asked what the hey was so funny, and he would say, "oh, nothing," and then I would ask him until he glared at me and said to shut up, and then I would turn the "treat women decently" rule on him, ect., ect.  
  
When we stopped for the night, Numair showed me what you did to set up a camp. I made supper, which was grilled cheese sandwiches, and when someone complained, I asked them if THEY could do any better, which shut everyone up immediatly. Later, we were sitting around the campfire, playing a version of truth or dare, where one person asked someone else a question, and they answered it, and then the "victim" picked someone to ask their question. There were no really personal questions, but some of the stories were hilarious. "Laurie," Numair asked me, "what jobs do your parents have?"   
  
"My mom's a lawyer, and my dad was an engineer."  
  
"Was?"   
  
"Yeah. He died when I was ten." I had never told them about my dad, since I saw no reason to.   
  
"Sorry," he said.  
  
"You weren't the drunk that killed him, so don't be," I said tartly. "Now, can we talk about something else?"  
  
"It's your turn," Merric said.   
  
"You can have it." With that, I got up and walked towards the slightly closed-off area where Daine, Kel and I had put our bedrolls. I let myself cry. I always cried when I thought about Dad. "Five years, Dad," I whispered, "and I still cry."   
  
When I got myself together, I went back to the fire. A little later Seaver asked me, "What's the craziest thing you've ever done?"   
  
"Oh, that's gonna be a looooong list, dear," I answered. "Let's see, there was the time when Jess, Juls, Joni, Niki and I got out in the middle of the ice rink during Rock 'n Skate and sang Weird Al's "Saga Begins" at the top of our lungs, when we went to a poetry reading, got up, and read Dr. Suess, when we made Niki do her Angry Weasel impression, but didn't tell her that it would end up on national TV, when we all ate tons of sugar and we all wrote stories at Joni's sleepover, coombined them to make one wacko story, and posted it on the internet, when we wrote 'Sparkling Clean' on Joni's forehead while she was asleep, when we were at a rest stop on a field trip, and Niki tried to hijack the bus when Tess was making out with her boyfriend in the backseat--we didn't know about that, when we were the characters from 'The Princess Bride' for Halloween, and we started arguing about who had to be Buttercup in front of the whole school in the office when the intercom was on, when we wrote 'Loser' on Jul's brother's forehead in laundry marker, when we---"  
  
"Laurie," Daine gasped, "enough! We...can't breathe!"   
  
So that was pretty much how the trip went.   
  
Two weeks later, we got to Hannalof. Lady Charrisse was waiting for us by the castle gate. Raoul hadn't lied, she WAS beautiful. Her skin was blonde, silky, long, and basically perfect. Her skin was perfect. Her sapphire-blue eyes were perfect. Heck, SHE should've been Buttercup.   
  
She was wearing a "different" outfit. What it was was a white silk chemise with buttoned cuff, and over that a heavy red brocade dress with trailing sleeves. The neckline of the dress was under her chest, which was how you could see the chemise.   
  
The strangest thing was that I reconized her, I just didn't know where.   
  
Most of the younger male's jaws dropped, the squires included. It was actually pretty funny. (OK, imagine all the guys at your school. Now imagine their jaws dropping at a new foreign exchange student who happens to be the most beautiful girl on the continent. Now imagine all their girlfriends whacking them over the head {exactly what Daine did to Numair}Funny, huh?)  
  
"Oh, thank the gods you're here! The raiders from Scanra and the killer unicorns were getting so hard to control...thank you!"   
  
Raoul rode up to talk to her. Since all the guys were too busy staring at Charrisse to talk, I could hear what he was saying perfectly. Pretty much it was about how are you this and how are you that and may we please be shown to our rooms since we're all every tired from the journey.   
  
So she had servents take us to our rooms. Along the hallway, I started shaking. I was scared out of my mind, I didn't know why. Kel came up next to me and asked, "Laurie, what's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost."  
  
"I might've," I muttered, then I said, a little louder, "Do you believe in prophectic dreams and deja vu and all that?"  
  
She shrugged. "I guess."  
  
"Well, sometimes I have prophectic dreams, not often, but they started happening a lot more often now. But right now, I've got this...feeling."  
  
"What kind of a feeling?"   
  
"It's more of a sense, actually," I said. "I know that there's darkness, death, pain, screaming." I shut my eyes, it hurt so much to look around. "People've died here," I whispered.  
  
"Well, of course. It's a castle, Laurie. It's old," Kel said matter-of-factly.   
  
"I didn't get a feeling like this from the palace," I said stubbornly. Kel shook her head and walked away.  
  
My room was across the hall from Numair and Daine's room, don't ask me how she knew that they were "together", and next to Kel's and Faleron's. So I started unpacking my bags, and I got this sudden, terrible feeling, sort of like what I felt int the hall, only much, much worse. I felt sick. I lay down on the bed, but I could hear screams, wails, begs for mercy. I went into the bathroom and threw up. What was it about this place?   
  
I shut my eyes for a second, and I saw a brunette woman with an infant on her shoulder, begging for her life so the child may live. The man from my nightmare, the ragged-looking one, grinned, drew a knife, and slit her throat. The baby cried. The man broke her neck.  
  
I opened my eyes and gasped. Shaking my head, I leaned against the vanity. Then the pictures were gone.   
  
A little later, I was feeling somewhat better, and for some reason, I reached under the bed. I rooted around, and got hold of something, and pulled it out a little and looked at it. It was a skeleton's hand.   
  
I screamed, dropped the thing, and backed up against the wall very quickly. The door burst open, and Numair, Daine, Lady Charrisse, Kel, Raoul, Faleron, and Sir Adeon ran in.   
  
"Laurie! Are you all right?" Faleron asked, coming up to me.   
  
Everyone was staring at me. I was pretty sure I knew why. I was scared, trembling, and most likely white as a ghost.   
  
"Look...under..the bed," I said slowly, gasping for breath. Numair glanced at me strangly, then walked over to the bed. He reached under and pulled out an entire skeleton, with the tiny bones of a baby with a broken neck on its rib cage.   
  
Everyone gasped. Numair stood up and took several deep breaths. Then he bent back down and touched the back of the big skeleton's head.   
  
I glanced at Charrisse. She was calm-looking. Except for her eyes. They darted around, as though looking for a way out.   
  
"It's a woman," he said. I assumed he had done some sort of magical test to find that out. "About thirty years old. Her throat was slit, about a year ago."  
  
"And the baby?" Adeon asked.  
  
"About six months. Neck broken, same time as the woman."  
  
I slid down against the wall. "Do you know what color her hair was?" I asked weakly.   
  
"Brown. Why?" Numair answered.  
  
"Oh, dear gods," I said, taking several deep breaths.   
  
"What?" Raoul asked.   
  
"I have no idea," I said. "That's why I'm so scared!"  
  
"What?" Numair asked.  
  
"Kel, would you mind explaining what I told you in the hall?" I asked. Kel nodded. "Um, Numair, you know, it's sort of a magic thing."  
  
Numair caught the hint. "My lady, would you mind leaving for a few minutes?"  
  
"Of course not." Charrisse smiled sweetly. "I need to change for supper, anyway."  
  
When she was gone, Numair shut the door. Kel helped me sit on the bed, and told them everything that I had told her, then I explained what happened in the room. When I was done, Numair started pacing.  
  
"Not good, not good," he muttered.   
  
"Numair," Adeon said. Numair ignored him.  
  
"Numair," Daine said, a little louder than Adeon. Still no response.  
  
"NUMAIR! WOULD YOU MIND EXPLAINING WHAT'S SO 'NOT GOOD'?!?!?!" I yelled.   
  
Numair glanced up and said, "Well, you didn't have to *yell*."  
  
Daine sighed. "Never mind, just explain, will you?"  
  
"If Laurie has prophectic dreams, and she gets these 'feelings,' then she very easily could be a Seer."  
  
"What's so bad about that?" I asked.   
  
Numair looked at me sadly. "Laurie, if you can tell when there's been a murder or something, some people might decide that they don't need witnesses."  
  
I slumped backward, falling on the bed. "Great. Juuuuuust great. Now I'm a potential problem to all murderers."  
  
"So, that means that I'm going to have to teach you more defense magic."  
  
"Okay, fine, now thanks," I said.   
  
"Laurie," Raoul asked. "As a knight, I have to ask you, did you see who killed the woman?"  
  
I nodded. "He was tall, not as tall as you or Numair, about as tall as Sir Adeon, with brown hair, a little gray, raggedy."  
  
Raoul sighed. "No one you've seen around the castle?"   
  
I shook my head. "Nope."   
  
He sighed again, then smiled tightly, and said, "Thank you, Laurie. I'd better let Jon and Alanna know about this."  
  
One by one, everyone left. Sir Adeon was the last to leave. "You know, Laurie," he said. "I know we don't know each other very well, but--" he stopped. "--I think that you can handle anything that you need to, but if you need some help, or someone to talk to, you can come to me." He started to go out the door.  
  
"Hey!" I said. He stopped. "Why d'ya wanna help me?"  
  
He grinned. "I'm twenty-three. I remember very well what it was like to be fifteen, and to have a crush on someone."  
  
"What the hey are you talking about?" I asked.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Laurie. I see how you look at Faleron."  
  
I stared at him. Then I said, or rather, yelled, "I SO don't have a crush on him! I don't DO crushes!"   
  
He grinned again. "Whatever you say." Then he left, leaving me with more than a skeleton and murderers to think about.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Yes, Rita, I DID decide to post! Smiles, to clear this up: It was a five pager at first, then right before I updated I reread it, and changed a lot and forgot to change the authors note. And Reena, sorry but Laurie ain't going home for a LOOONG while. She's got black-robe sorcerers to annoy, pages to torture, places she hasn't wrecked havoc on yet... nope, I'd say she checkin' in and not checkin' out for at least fifteen more chapters!  
  
Also, Charrisse's name is pronounced sha-REESE, or share-EESE. She and Sir Adeon belong to me, but everyone else belongs to the almightly Tammy. That's the only other disclaimer you'll get until I introduce more characters.   
  
Note on Plot: Okay, NOW we're getting into the real thing! I have Tuesday and Wednesday off from school, today was supposed to be a half day but I got sick, so expect a lot more coming out.   
  
  
Note: Lately there's been a lot of stuff about flames on ff.n. It might have been brought around by what's going on in the forums, but I think flames are an accident waiting to happen. Yeah, the forum sort of brought it out, but I think that people who flame stories were just setting it up. I have a message to you people who flame: GET A LIFE. For God's sake, those things hurt. Find something other to do than critisize other people. Now, I'm probably gonna get flamed by flamers for saying this, but heck! Writers put, blood, sweat, and tears--tears especially--into their work, just like artists, archetechs, sports champions, and all sorts of other people. How would you like it if someone said, "This sucks. Go burn it or something." about your clay project that you spent 8 hours on? You English paper? The song you wrote? I think Saphron expresses the problem perfectly in her note on what's happening in the forum.   
  
In Saphron's note about the flames, I was looking at the reviews, and someone FLAMED HER! For God's sake, constructive critisizm! NOT FLAMES! Do us a favor, and keep your comments about how sucky our fics are to yourself. You know who you are.   
  



	14. The Bandits

  
The next day, I got up from a very rough sleep when someone knocked on my door. "Hello little children!" I yelled with a fake French accent. "Nice to meet you! Now go...away!" (A/N: Watch Veggie Tales 'Josh and the Big Wall.' That's what one of the French Jerico peas says.)  
  
"Last time I checked," I heard Kel mutter as the door opened, "I wasn't a 'little children.'"  
  
"Kel, DON'T get on my nerves right now!" I told her, sitting up.   
  
She put up her hands in a surrender. "All right. Just wanted to tell you that today we're going after some bandits that attacked the village two days ago, if you want to come."  
  
"YES!" I yelled, throwing the covers off. "Ka-ching! Finally! Some excitement!"   
  
"It's not going to be fun," Kel said tartly, a blank look in her eyes.   
  
"Kel?" I said, looking at her. "Wha--oh. You think that I think that hunting bandits'll be fun? You're very wrong, young one. I'm talking about watching the boys nearly get themselves killed trying to be a hero and get Charrise's attention."  
  
Kel glared at me, trying not to laugh. Then she giggled, then chuckled, then laughed like a hyena. Pretty soon we were both breathless from laughing, and had collasped on the bed, or in my case, the floor.   
  
"Would you hens mind getting down here so we can eat and leave? It'll be jolly, and I want to go!" Owen said, poking his head in the door.   
  
"Oh, shaddup, Sir Crybaby. We'll leave soon enough." I snapped. "Now leave so I can get dressed. Shoo! Shoo!"  
  
At breakfast, most of the knights looked like a mess. None of them were talking and laughing like they had last night. The male squires were talking about how they'd get Charrise's acknowledgement with their heroic deeds. Kel and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.   
  
About and an hour later, we left. Numair and Daine had been teaching me how to use a dagger and a bow, so I had one of Daine's spare bows and a knife that Kel lent me, plus if I got into a tough situation, I could always use my hand to hand.   
  
The day was going to be one of the worst of my life, even if I didn't know it then. First of all, the bandits were smart. They hid their trail pretty well, and by the time we found one, it was one in the afternoon. We had left at nine.   
  
Raoul grumbled, "I hate it when they get smart." Numair, Kel, and I were riding with him, since Kel was his squire, Numair was a mage, and I was Numair's apprentice.   
  
Hey, it could be worse," I said, trying to be the optimistic, sugar-high Laurie everyone expected me to be, "It could be raining."  
  
think you can all guess what happened next.   
  
Raoul sighed like he was trying not to get mad, wiped the rain from his eyes, turned to me and said, "I hate you."  
  
The rain let up after we were thoroughly soked, an hour later. Then in the mud we found the bandit's tracks. We followed them for another hour, and then in a small clearing the tracks vanished.   
  
"Odd," Raoul said. "They just seemed to disapper."   
  
Faleron, who had come up with Sir Adeon, looked up at the trees. Hannalof was a thickly forested area, and we had been tracking through the woods since we left the castle. Faleron frowned. I looked away. Ever since Sir Adeon had told me what he thought about me and Faleron yesterday, I had suddenly gotten conscious of the way my heart beat faster when he looked at me, and how I wished that he was smiling at me, not whoever else, who was normally Charrise.   
  
"What's wrong?" I asked quietly, riding up beside him. The rest of the knights, Numair, Daine, and anyone else of importance were up front, arguing about what had happened. The knights had stopped riding, so we had stopped too.   
  
He looked at me. "Nothing. It's just...it's strange, that they're just...gone." He looked up again. His eyes suddenly widened, and he quickly trotted his horse up to where the POIs (peoples of importance) were still arguing.   
  
I tried not to think about it, but I felt a little hurt that he hadn't even said, "Excuse me" or whatever. *He's jsut a boy,* I snapped at myself. *Don't start mooning over him. And besides, it must have been important.*  
  
Faleron walked his horse back, looking a little dejected. He moved his horse back next to Fairy, and sighed. "Sorry I left so fast, Laurie, I--" He looked at the trees again. "GET DOWN!" he yelled suddenly, shoving me down on the saddle. I winced at how hard he pushed, and was jsut about to scold him when an arrow flew over my head.   
  
Everything happened very quickly after that. The POIs started yelling to shoot into the trees. A few raggedy looking men dropped down to the ground, one only a few feet from Faleron and me. Quickly I got off Fairy and strung my bow. I loaded an arrow and shot at him. It hit his shoulder. He ran into the woods. I ran after him.   
  
In a spot without trees that was too small to be called a clearing he stopped. He turned and looked at me. "You want t' fight, girl?" he snarled. "Then fight!" He threw a knife at me. I leaned over sideways, and the knife hit the tree behind me directly where my head would have been. I pulled out my dagger. This was no sparr with a training master. This was a fight to the death.   
  
He lunged, I twisted and scratched his arm. He winced and dug his none-too-clean nails into my shoulder. I twisted myself around again and he pulled my knife from my hand. After that I did what my instinct told me to.   
  
I spun out of his grasp and put my hand around his throat. Pulling a move from a form I once did, I broke his knee cap with my palm, then I kicked his windpipe as hard as I could. He gasped and fell down. In an instant he was back up, and he grabbed my arm and twisted it. "Wench!" he said, pulling me to face him. His eyes were full of rage. "You--"   
  
He made a huge mistake then. He forgot about my free arm. I socked him in the nose, kicked him where it really hurt, and did the same move I had done earlier, grabbing his throat and kicking his windpipe. Only this time, it didn't hurt him.   
  
It killed him.   
  
He fell to the ground again, his open, glassy eyes staring at me. I let go of his throat and let him fall.   
  
"Oh dear God," I whispered, backing against a tree. "Oh dear God."   
  
Just then Numair, Raoul, Adeon, Daine, Faleron, and Kel raced into the space. "Laurie!" Numair said worridly, walking towards me. His robes were bloodstained, and his hair was matted with sweat. I realized I couldn't look much better than him. "Are you all right?"   
  
" I saw you run off after that man and I didn't know where you went," Faleron said. "Don't you ev--Mithros." He turned away from me and looked at the bandit's body.   
  
Slowly, everyone else looked at the dead man. "You did that?" Raoul asked.   
  
I swallowed the womit int my throat, closed my eyes, and nodded.   
  
"What happened?" Numair whispered.   
  
"I killed him," I said, very close to hysteria. "I killed him!"   
  
"He was a bandit. He deserved it," someone muttered.   
  
"No, you don't understand!" I was caught between crying and screaming and trying not to do both. "When I was ten I promised I would never make anyone feel what I felt when my dad died. I just did the same thing to his family that the drunk driver did to me and Mom!"   
  
"Laurie..." Daine said. "He was a bandit."  
  
"He could've been someone's father, someone's husband, someone's brother, someone's son," I muttered.   
  
Raoul looked at me sympatheticly. "It gets easier, if it helps," he said.   
  
I looked at him, horrified. "That's what I'm afraid of," I whispered, and let myself cry.   
  
Slowly, everyone left, leaving me with the man's body. I walked over to it. *Him,* I thought. *Not it.*   
  
I pulled my arrow out of his shoulder. It was still wet with his blood. Without thinking, I took the tip and sliced a cut on the palm of my right hand, all the way from my pinkie narly to my wrist. I could feel the thing burn where his blood combined with mine. I hissed in pain, and then I said, loudly, "I swear in the name of Mithros, the Goddess, and all other gods powerful and small, that if I can ever avoid killing, or save a life, I'll do it, even if it takes my life. I swear with the blood of the man I killed with mine. So mote it be!"   
  
Numair had taught me about blood oaths. I knew what I was doing. If I broke the oath, then I could be cast into a world of eternal torture in the Black God's realm, to quote Numair.   
  
I wrapped a piece of my shirt around it to stop the bleeding, clucked to Fairy, and went back to the castle.   
  
  
Author's Note: All right, Laurie's been gone for, what, 65,000,000 years? Well, I'm back now. And good news, IT'S SUMMER! PREPARE TO CELEBRATE!!!!!! Okay, the reason I was gone was because I had a six-week period of writer's block. Pleasant, huh? I haven't really been able to write since the last chapter of Cass. Anyvays, I'll be writing a lot now, cuz now we get into the real stuff. Like, 2 more chapters and the main conflict starts. Sooo...bye now!   
  
  
Note on the Story: I read Squire nearly 2 weeks ago, and I've been debating what to do with the story since then. I could either: go with the Squire plot and have to revise all the story, or go with my original idea. I picked a little of both. A few Squire characters (Dom, for example off the top of my head) will appear, as will a few events (Joren's trial). But my idea will stay the same. So in this version, JOREN IS NOT DEAD. Got that? JOREN IS NOT DEAD. But I'm debating whether or not to change it to K/C or to keep K/N as planned. Vote on it!   
  
  



	15. The Begining of the.....

  
I stayed in my room until Kel knocked at five-thirty. "Laurie?" she asked quietly. I got up and let her in. I noticed she was wearing her good clothes. She glanced at my desk, where there were at least twenty sheets of paper crumpled into balls, with several spread out, empty. "What are you trying to do?"  
  
"Write," I said. "I haven't been able to write for weeks. Now I feel like I have to write this down, but I just can't get it right."  
  
She smiled and sat down on the bed. "You know, half the castle's betting you're having a nervous breakdown. I heard Charrisse's knight-guardian say it was proof that women should'nt bear arms."  
  
I smiled shakily. "Well, I'll just have to prove them wrong. What time does dinner start?"  
  
"Half an hour."   
  
"All right then." I went to my bags. I had "forgotten" the dress that Numair had ordered me to pack, but fortunatly I had "remembered" my two best tunics, shirts, and hose. Kel saw and grinned, shaking her head. "I still can't believe you got up the guts to do that," she said, awed.   
  
"Do what?" I asked innocently.   
  
"Forget your dress on purpose."   
  
"Kel, that wasn't on purpose. It was a fortunate accident."  
  
"And you just *happened* to have your good tunics."  
  
"Yup. Now, which should I wear?"  
  
"Blue. It brings out your eyes. But I can't believe you've changed this much."  
  
"Whaddya mean? Green shirt, or white?"  
  
"White with the green hose. Three hours ago you were hysterical and screaming about killing and drunk drivers."  
  
I stopped rummaging and looked at her. "Kel, one thing about me that always surprises people is how fast I can go from crying buckets to laughing like a hyena. Usually I still feel like crying when I'm laughing, and I'm jsut putting on a show. Or when I want to laugh *and* cry, I choose the happier one. I try to be the optimistic hyper person people think I should be."  
  
"You don't have to, you know. You shouldn't do all the acting."  
  
"And you shouldn't hide your emotions," I said, pulling on the shirt and hose. I put on the tunic and and my belt. Kel sighed and our talk moved on to lighter subjects. Eventually Daine came in and joined the talk. She decided that I just *couldn't* leave my hair down so I ended up with it in a knot style that kept it off my bakc and out of my face, so I didn't argue. When Numair told us it was time to go, I let Kel and Daine go first. Then when they were gone, I put a spell over my still-bloodshot eyes so that they looked clear.   
  
"Mr. Ladies-can't-fight, here I come," I muttered. I took one last look in the mirror to make sure I looked like I had just come from a tournament in which I hadn't participated, and went to catch up with my friends.  
  
********  
  
After dinner, there was a dance-type thing to celebrate catching the bandits. I didn't really get the point, but I figured that since I was required to go, I might as well not spend it in misery. So I found Kel leaning against the wall, out of the way, glowering and Charrisse, who was across the room, her admirers surrounding her.   
  
"Ah, 'Four and forty are the braids that twine about her head, four and forty are the maids that wait upon her bed. Four and forty are the bells upon her horse's bridle, four and forty are the jewels upon its leather saddle. Four and forty are the babes that she has stole away, and countless are the prince's hearts that she did break today," I recited. When Kel looked at me, I said, "That would be 'The Queen of the Fay' by Jane Yolen, in 'The Fairie's Ring: A book of Fairy Stories and Poems.' It refers to our dear Lady up there." I nodded towards Charrisse.  
  
"That doesn't fit her," Kel said.  
  
"The braids do, look at her hair style. So do the maids." I gestered at the room, where at least a hundred servents were running around. "I dunno about the saddle and bridle, though. But she has broken countless prince's hearts--"  
  
"And knight's and squire's and lord's," Kel said with more malice in her voice in her voice than I knew she had. I raised my eyebrows. She nodded curtly at the group of men who were arguing in a group, since Charrisse was dancing with someone. Cleon was arguing about Charrisse. Faleron was dancing with her.  
  
"FALERON?" I asked, disbelief in my voice. "HE'S dancing with HER?"   
  
Kel looked at me. "Why should you care about Faleron's love life?"  
  
"I--I don't. I just thought he was better than that. And besides--" I grinned. "I thought you liked Neal, not Cleon."   
  
"Shhh!" Kel said quickly. "Don't say that in public!"   
  
I rolled my eyes. "All right, Kel, jsut because you're a second year squire doesn't mean you can't have crushes."  
  
"Oh yes it does!" she said. I was about to ask what she meant, but then I decided not to.   
  
********  
  
Somehow I made it through the night. When I finally got to bed, I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about Faleron, dancing with Miss Ditz. And he had danced with her at least ten times. I counted. She even kissed his cheek.   
  
"Why the hell do I care about him?" I whispered. "He's jsut a guy!"   
  
When I finally fell asleep, it was late.   
  
*Blood flowed through the streets like a river, ankle deep. People were forced by armed soldiers to kneel in front of men with swords coated in blood. One woman begged for her life, to save her baby's. The man in front of her killed her, then he killed the baby.*  
  
I sat up straight in bed and shut my eyes, trying to forget. I took deep breaths and tried to stay calm. Was it a nightmare or a vision? I couldn't tell.   
  
I had decided to get up and tell Numair when ....something, for lack of a better word, hit me like a brick. It hurt worse than anything I had ever experienced. I shut my eyes, trying not to scream. It was like a sound, an echo, that was there and gone.   
  
I got up immediatly, wrapped a blanket around my shoulders, and raised my hand to knock on Numair's door. He opened it before I had the chance to.   
  
"You felt it?" he asked.  
  
I nodded. "What was it?"  
  
He sighed. "The Black God."  
  
"Why was it so strong?"  
  
"So many deaths that we mortals, magical and not, could feel it."   
  
I shuddered.   
  
Fifteen minutes later, the knights and squires were all in some sort of council room. Charrisse was there also, and I had an eerie feeling she knew what happened.   
  
"Everyone, quiet!" Raoul shouted. Dead silence settled over the room. "Numair, would you mind telling us what's going on?"   
  
"No idea," he said.   
  
Raoul sighed. "All right, Numair, talk to Jon or something. The rest of us will leave while you do."  
  
"Raoul, I'd prefer if you would stay. This will most likely involve you."  
  
"All right. Kel, you stay, too. And you, Laurie."   
  
So the four of us gathered around the fire place, and Numair threw some dust over it and muttered something. The next thing I knew, I saw King Jonathan pacing a room.   
  
"Jon?" Numair asked softly.  
  
The King's head snapped over towards the fire place. A look of relief crossed his face. "Numair, thank the gods,"   
  
"What's wrong?"   
  
The King sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Come to Corus as soon as you can."   
  
The next thing he said sent chills up my spine.   
  
"We're at war with the Copper Isles."   
  
  
Author's Note: Ok, I know I said I'd be writing more, but this chapter had to be really good. This is where the plot starts!!! YEA! We're out of the boring juck! Woo-hoo! Sorry. I'm just happy. Ok, This is REALLY IMPORTANT!!! In my version of the story, squires do 4, not 3, COMPLETE years as squires. Then they do what ever time is left between then and midwinter. I know this is weird, but if I don't do it like this, I won't have much time. And this is at the end of Kel's FIRST YEAR as a squire, so she's entering her second. So she has 3 and the time to Midwinter to go. Sorry about that!   
  
Note on Story: Ok, Casseiopeia sucks. The up until Chapter 13, which is slightly better, things are very inconsistant and choppy. Just so you know, the only Beta reader I've got is Evly, and she isn't much of one. So I'll go back and fix those chapters sometime, or something, so it isn't so bad for people who first read the story. Bye!   
  



	16. On the Road (again)

"So, explain, Jon."   
  
It was late afternoon. The King's private coucil, with their squires and apprentices, were all in a council room. The events of the last two weeks were still blurred in my mind. We had left Hannalof the next morning, at dawn. We rode, barely stopping for two weeks straight. For the meeting, though, even the Lioness had showed up.   
  
Jonathan sighed, and started talking. "Two weeks ago, Copper Isles war ships--about eighty--sailed into Port Legann, with about two thousand soldiers and sailors. It was late, and they killed the guards." His voice was shaking with what seemed like rage and tears that hadn't been shed. "They murdered three thousand of the people there--women and children included. The messanger said that it was the common people, not soldiers, who fought the bravest. They didn't stop 'til all of them were captured or dead."   
  
I looked down and my hands, which were clenched so hard against the back of Numair's chair that the knuckles were white. I had learned that Legann, the third largest city in Tortall, had a population of somewhere around 3,500. They had killed almost everyone.   
  
"Imrah?" Raoul asked quietly.   
  
No word of him yet."   
  
"And the prince?" Adeon asked. I remembered that Roald and his knight-master had gone back to Legann a little after we left.   
  
"Same as Imrah," the King answered, his voice shaking worse than ever. "Not a word." Tears fell down his cheeks, silently. He covered his face with his hands. Soon the only sounds in the room were his sobs.   
  
I was shocked. I realized, now, that even though Jon had been a prig, he was still a person, a person who loved his wife and children and people. He was crying the same tears that Mom and I had cried. He might be a king, but he was a father, first and foremost. I nearly started crying myself. Now I was seriously sorry for telling him off.   
  
A few minutes later, he stopped, took a deep breath, and said, "Raoul, could you take Third Company to Legann? They'll need some help." Raoul nodded.   
  
"Numair, they'll need a mage. Could you go too?"   
  
"Whatever you say, Jon. Laurie, go pack," he told me.   
  
I nodded and walked towards the door. Apparantly the other squires were told to leave too, because, Kel, Faleron, Neal, and Owen left with me. We walked in silence for a while, until I said, "God, that's horrible. Three thousand people...and Roald..."   
  
Neal shook his head. "I can't believe this. I knew we weren't on good terms with them, but I never thought it would start a war."   
  
"It's only been six years since the Immortals War, too," Faleron said quietly.   
  
Kel, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly looked at me and said, "You knew."   
  
I looked at her sharply. "What?"   
  
"You knew. You knew about this."   
  
I noticed all four of them were looking at me. Owen asked, confused, "What in the name of Mithros are you talking about, Kel?" while Neal looked bewildered.   
  
"Laurie's a Seer," Faleron explained.   
  
"Really?" Neal asked.   
  
I nodded.   
  
Kel asked, more impatient this time, "Well, Laurie, did you know or not?"   
  
I sighed. "I had an idea. I had a nightmare, but I didn't know that it was real."   
  
Neal stared at me, then slapped his hand to his forehead. "Gods, Laurie, when you see something like that, TELL SOMEONE!"   
  
I looked at him, shocked, that HE, who had never had to deal with this sort of thing, was telling me off. "Listen, YOU try seeing people standing ankle-deep in blood, cutting off people's heads, and ENJOYING IT! Then you can tell me off!" I was trying not to cry from how horrible it was. I took a deep breath, and said, more quietly, "I was just trying to forget, that was all. Just trying to forget."   
  
I walked ahead quickly and went to my room, where all I had to do was exchange my dirty clothes for clean ones. It only took me twenty minutes, so I decided that if I was leaving tomorrow, I had better be on good terms with my friends.   
  
I went and knocked on Kel's door, where most of the study group was. The ones that hadn't been there were asking questions about the council meeting.   
  
"Hi," I said quietly. "Can I come in?" When they nodded, I sat down on the bed. "Um, guys, I'm sorry about earlier. I sorta lost my temper."   
  
They assured me it was fine, so we talked for a while. When it got late I went up to my room to sleep.  
  
That night, I barely slept at all. Even when I did manage to fall asleep, I had the nightmare about Legann again. The only difference this time was that the person pleading for their life was Roald.  
  
*********   
  
The next morning, Third Company, along with me and Numair, were in the courtyard about ready to set out. I was hanging around with Kel when a guy (who was really cute) came over and talked to Kel. He had black hair and light blue eyes, and aside from that, he looked a lot like Neal.   
  
"Uh, Kel?" I asked when he stopped talking. "Could I talk to you for a sec?"   
  
We rode our horses a little ways away, and Kel asked, "What?"   
  
"That guy is seriously hot. Introduce me to him, please?" I asked.   
  
Kel rolled her eyes, but when we rode back over, she said, "By the way, Domitan of Masbolle, may I present Laurieli Makensri? Laurie, Dom."   
  
I mouthed "thank you" to Kel as Dom kissed my hand gentlemanly-ish and said, "A pleasure to meet you, Demoiselle Laurie. I've been hearing about you from milord." He nodded at Raoul.   
  
I smiled and said, "You act a lot like Neal."   
  
"You know him?" he asked. I nodded. He took both my hands in his, gave me a sympathsizing look, and said, "I'm so sorry."   
  
I chuckled took my hands out of his. "I accept your apologies."   
  
Someone whistled, and Dom said, "Well, duty calls. Hopefully I'll see you around, Laurie." He waved and rode towards the person who had whistled. I grinned, shaking my head, and turned to look at Kel- who was giving me a sideways look.   
  
"What?" I asked defensivly.   
  
"Nothing," she told me, all innocence. I rolled my eyes and nudged Fairy forward as the Company set out.   
  
*******   
  
Later that morning, Numair rode up beside me. He was quiet for a few minutes, until he said, "I saw you flirting with that Masbolle boy this morning."   
  
I looked at him, startled. "Flirting? That was flirting?"   
  
"Yes, that was flirting! What did you think it was, small talk?"   
  
"Uh, yeah."   
  
He slapped his hand to his forhead. "Just be careful, Laurie. I want to be sure you don't get in over your head."   
  
"Whaddya mean, over my head?"   
  
He shook his head and rode forward without answering.   
  
I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Men."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
